The Wild Hunt

The Wild Hunt
Airdate:	September 17, 2017
Credits
Written & storyboarded by:	Sam Alden Erik Fountain Polly Guo
Episodes
Previous "Three Buckets"
Next "Always BMO Closing"

"The Wild Hunt" is the first episode in the ninth season of Adventure Time. It's the two hundred sixty-seventh episode overall.

Synopsis

A fierce creature is terrorizing the Candy Kingdom but before Finn can slay the beast, he must first overcome a guilty conscience.

Plot

Princess Bubblegum and Finn head back from a candy kingdom baseball game. Princess Bubblegum thanks Finn for coaching the team, as she always appreciates help with boosting the Banana Guards' morale. Finn replies, distant, which prompts PB to ask him if he is ok. Finn replies that it's been a rough month after what happened with Fern, and he says he feels as if the experience has left something wrong in him, as if he can't finish anything off. Princess Bubblegum tries to reassure him, to tell him that death is a serious matter, but before she can finish she slips on a dirty Banana Peel. Revealed to be Banana Guard #216's peel, she exclaims that he's dead, and looks onward to see dozens more destroyed peels. Several horrified guards rush out to the princess, describing the thing that attacked them resembled a Banana, shot hot fudge, and fed on other Banana creatures. Realizing the monster that attacked was CandyTech, Princess Bubblegum angrily tells Finn to hunt down and destroy whatever has caused all the damage. Finn reluctantly agrees.

At night time, two Banana Guards stand guard at the dormitory, both worried that the beast will come back. They tried to connect their left hands. Suddenly, the big wild monster took out the first Banana Guard. Without the second Banana Guard realizing that the monster appeared, he too was taken out. The monster entered the dormitory and wanted to grab a Banana Guard, but was ambushed by Finn and Jake in their Banana Guard outfit.

Characters

Major characters

• Finn
• Huntress Wizard
• Banana Guards
• Grumbo

Minor characters

• Jake
• Fern (hallucination)
• Princess Bubblegum (flashback)
• Gumbald (not named)
• Snail

Trivia

• This is Huntress Wizard's first major role in an episode since Season 7's "Flute Spell."
• Gumbald seemed to have originally named the beast Bananameister, based on the paper at the end of the episode. Apparently, he decided to follow Huntress Wizard's label of him and crossed out Bananameister, to write Grumbo.

Cultural references

• The Wild Hunt is a European folk myth that involves a supernatural being, such as Odin, King Arthur, or Gwyn ap Nudd (depending on the region), who leads an army of ghosts or fairies across the sky. It is usually considered a sign of misfortune to be in the path of the Wild Hunt.
• The artwork in the title card resembles the Bayeux Tapestry, an embroidered cloth that tells about the exploits of William the Conqueror.

• The beginning of the episode resembles the plot of old english epic poem Beowulf, where a huge and savage monster called Grendel comes at night and attacks a palace (Heorot). Grendel kills hundreds of soldiers loyal to Hrothgar, the danish king, until the foreign hero Beowulf stays one night with the rest of the guards and slays it.

Episode connections

• At the start of the episode, statues of the early Banana Guards from "The Vault" can be seen.
• Finn and Jake use the same Banana Guard disguises from "The Thin Yellow Line."
• It's been one month since "Three Buckets." Finn is still traumatized from "killing" Fern.
  • The ruins where Fern imprisoned Finn are now occupied by Gumbald.

Storyline analysis

• It seems that Finn and Huntress Wizard have come to accept one another's mutual romance since "Flute Spell," as they nonchalantly exchange a kiss.

Production notes

• This is the first episode to air on a Sunday.
• This is the ninth season premiere.
• This episode is considered to be the first episode of season 10 on cartoonnetwork.com, however it is actually the first episode of season 9 and there is no season 10.

Gallery

Official art

Storyboard panel